Title:
Uni Streaming
Description:
Uni Streaming is the decentralized approach to music streaming. Founded by independent musicians for independent musicians, we solely host unlicensed music. (No Major/Indie Labels)
Uni only allows music that is 100% owned by musicians who created the songs. This allows us to pay upwards of 50% more than your standard DSPs, while enabling various Web3 tooling and mechanisms to help cultivate their own ecosystems.
Manifesto/Vision
We are reframing what it means to be a musician, the musician isn’t much different from an entrepreneur, you are the business! But imagine trying to build a business, yet the resources you need to start are scattered around every continent of the world! That’s what it’s like for independent musicians in our age. Uni will provide all the tools you need in one place to build your fan base!
Uni Streaming is designed, and developed with the local musician in mind. Uni will not only payout more, but more importantly, it will strengthen the relationship between fan and musician, because with 1,000 super fans, any musician can make a living.
Problem
Independent Musicians don’t have a tool to conglomerate their fans and build their career. As a musician you’re either starving or you’re a super star, it’s very rare that you fall in between these two extremities. Why is this the case? Streaming platforms cater to Major Labels, and major labels cater to the top 10% of musicians. If streaming music on these platforms is the only way that consumers buy music these days, then how can independent and local musicians even attempt to make a living?
Solution
Uni, streaming for independent local musicians, where local music is highlighted, where musicians are paid out more, and where a valuable community is priority.
Product
A subscription based streaming platform backed by the people. Discover local musicians wherever you are, Listen in on live music experiences right through your phone, directly tip or sponsor local musicians, fans become an investor through purchasing music NFTs. Uni is creating super fans out of all of us!
Validation
Web2 and web3 musicians, are still facing the same issues of bringing their fans together in one place, all of the social media platforms we use aren’t catered toward the creatives and web3 platforms are still inaccessible to web2 fans and probably wont be for another 5 years. There needs to be a catalyst for this transition into the creators economy, and we wan’t Uni to be that catalyst.
Progress
Without funding we have onboarded a senior and a UX/UI designer. Although they are working with limited time, they believe in this project. Both founders are currently located in Austin,TX where they have cultivated a local community and following through their events such as #FEATURETALK Sessions where they rent a studio and hold a workshop/jam session for two local independent musicians. For our final event for the year we were able to get a sponsorship from NEAR Austin and we are looking forward to a long term partnership with them as we grow. Another strategic partnership we have cultivated is Popmantra, a Houston born initiative that is onboarding people into the web3 space through education around NFTs. They host events called “NFTs & Tequila” and they are planning on going on tour within the next month with this series.
Differentiation
We are not only building in web3, but we are making this product web2 accessible. We imagine being the ultimate bride for independent musicians in the web 2 space to the web3 space. Unlike a lot of music web3 projects i’ve seen, we are not excluding the web2 musicians because they are the ones who need this the most. Uni will be web2 in the front and web3 in the back. Another great differentiator to acknowledge is that we aren’t just saying independent musicians for no reason, it’s a requirement for musicians who want to be on Uni to have ownership of their masters.
Team
Cannon Outlaw & Brenna Damatta - Co-foudners
Ross Edwards - Senior Developer
Quinton Chinouya - Junior Developer
Cj Nnemeka - UX/UI Designer
Cannon Rolls: UX/UI Designer, Graphic Designer, Tem Management, strategic decisions
Brenna Rolls: Project Management, Community Guide, Event coordinator, Long term strategy
Grant Request
$50,000
Funds:
We have no funds up to this point. We will use this grant to start paying ourselves and the team to work full/part-time on developing the web dapp, and to start planning and gathering resources for Uni Fest 2023.
Help:
Along with funding, we are looking for strategic partnerships and help specifically on planning and outlining the Uni Fest 2023 tour. I (Brenna) have a strong web3 music community on Twitter, but having support in organizing this event will make it much more possible.
Additional Resources:
Brenna Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brenna_inc
Cannon Twitter: https://twitter.com/CannonOutlaw